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Our first paper on hybrid speciation is now published in Ecology and Evolution. (Find it HERE). In this one we simulate evolution within a population of hybridizing parental species and monitor how selection on different types of loci affect the probability that the hybridizing population evolves reproductive isolation from both parents species.

Long story short – selection favoring admixture can promote the evolution of reproductive isolation in admixed populations, but selection against admixture drastically reduces the probability of hybrid speciation (at least through the mechanism simulated in this paper).

We also published a mini-review / opinion piece on “cascade reinforcement” early this year in Current Zoology (check out the same issue of Current Zoology as there are a bunch of interesting papers on the topic!).

For background on reinforcement acting in this system, see Daniel Matute’s original paper on reinforcement in D. yakubahere.

Follow the link below to see my talk from the Evolution meetings in Austin, TX discussing an experiment we’re doing looking at adaptation and the potential for reproductive isolation in hybrid populations of Drosophila.

Our recent paper looking at the genomic basis of parallel adaptation [Soria-Carrasco et al. 2014] was featured in an opinion piece by Elizabeth Pennisi entitled “Disputed Islands”. In her article Penski explores the “genomic island” metaphor, its evolution in evolutionary biology, and the processes that can generate those contentious peaks of divergence frequently observed within genomes.

[The piece includes two pictures of Timema (one I took myself, the other a great shot by Mo Muschick)]

Many loci with small phenotypic effects act additively during niche divergence and hybrids are phenotypically mismatched to naturally occurring niches (i.e., morphologically, they end up in a fitness valley). An interesting paper giving the later finding some theoretical support was also recently published in Evolution (http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/evo.12346/abstract).

2014 Timema field season is under way! The crazy drought that California is experiencing has resulted in very low population densities of Timema so Rudy, Tim and I have resorted to sampling in the front yard of our ‘research station’ in Santa Barbara: